Polemonium caeruleum Seeds | Jacob’s Ladder
LATIN NAME: Polemonium caeruleum
COMMON NAME: Jacob’s Ladder
Plant Profile
Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium caeruleum) grows as a perennial in the phlox family. The Jacob’s ladder sends up its sprays of blue, bell-shaped flowers, and crowded leaflets climb stems like rungs of the ladder. Its appeal to pollinating insects adds a second, ecological layer to its ornamental one. It is hard to name another plant that gives this much for this little trouble.
Science & Biotechnology
Botanists studying the phlox family regularly include Polemonium caeruleum in comparative work, and the species also appears in horticultural trials aimed at gardeners and growers. Contemporary seed practice means a grower can raise it confidently with standard techniques.
Uses & Benefits
In the garden, Jacob’s Ladder earns its place in borders, containers and mixed plantings, and it also rewards growers who raise plants for cutting, drying or kitchen use. The Jacob’s ladder is a fine, airy plant of border and woodland edge. It is a fine, airy plant of open, sunny to lightly shaded, deep, moist, well-drained garden. Give young plants light shade and moist soil, and blue sprays will come in second season. Once settled, it thrives on neglect more than on fussing.
Jacob’s ladder is a charming cottage perennial for shade; its name is biblical, its role ornamental.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed of Jacob’s Ladder under ordinary good conditions. Surface-sow onto a light, well-drained compost, dust over a thin covering, and keep evenly moist and sunny until the seedlings show. Once the seedlings have made true leaves, pot them on individually and plant out when they are sturdy and conditions are right.
Our Take
Given the right start, Jacob’s Ladder is a long-term garden companion. Young plants want steady water; older plants take conditions as they come.
Related Reading
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